Make of this what you will.
Donald Trump supporters have met an official ballot deadline in Texas, paving the way for the business mogul to become a third-party candidate there, a source close to Trump tells The Blaze. Trump himself acknowledged the filing in a statement.
According to an email sent by the source to The Blaze on Sunday night, Trump supporters filed paperwork on Friday to create the “Make America Great Again Party,” giving Trump the opportunity — should he take advantage of it — to be on the primary ballot.
Texas State law requires the paperwork to be notarized and filed by Jan 2, the source told The Blaze. At least one other Trump supporter had contacted the Texas Secretary of State’s office to accept the paperwork on Monday despite it being an official holiday, the source added, but that became unnecessary once the paperwork was filed on Friday.
The same website had previously reported an effort to get The Donald on Texas’ ballot. This is a non-trivial thing, as PoliTex notes.
Texas has distinct and complex rules for establishing a third party in Texas and for running for president in the state. (One of the rules of establishing a minor party is that the name of the party can’t be more than three words so, presumably, the founders of the “Make America Great Again Party” will have to come up with something a little more snappy.) Many key Deadlines were recently changed after the US Supreme Court issued a stay on some of the political maps Texas planned to use for next year’s elections. Third party presidential candidates planning to get their names on Texas ballots normally have to gather signatures from thousands of Texas voters. A Trump supporter told the Blaze the paperwork establishing the third party needed to be in by Jan. 2.
Just ask Ralph Nader how big a deal this can be. I have no idea how seriously to take this, but if there really is something to it we’ll know more soon enough. The Chron’s Perry Presidential blog, Juanita, Hair Balls, PoliTex, and the Daily Kos have more.
Trump’s lazy. He won’t go to the effort to try and get ballot access on his own in Texas.
He’ll takes his newly minted “independent affiliation registration” and comb-over and wave them at Americans Elects nomination process just to continue getting the press.
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